You are here

Flags and Other Stuff

So I just discovered Eclipse Phase (my first game is on Thursday) and my tradition with new games is to redesign all of the included logos/flags plus add more of them. I've done a few, but first I'd like to share the sort of Big Factions, which are most of the logos that the books include, but also a few more.

These are all in flag form, I will include the "logo form" whenever I do a post focusing on that particular faction (of which I have a few planned)

THE PLANETARY CONSORTIUM

More or less the same as the in-game image, but cleaned up a bit.

THE LUNAR-LAGRANGE ALLIANCE

Similar to the in game image, but cleaner. In my head the symbolism is white for the Lunar-Lagrange being the "guiding light" of transhumanity, the dark blue is space, and the blue shadow behind Luna is the shadow of the Earth that hangs over the LLA.

THE MORNINGSTAR CONSTELLATION

The astrological symbol of Venus superimposed over the Star of Ishtar, like the book's version. I made the flag square to symbolism the Constellation as sort of being space Switzerland, the most progressive of the inner system capitalist states. Pink was added because I wanted there to be pink somewhere.

THE THARSIS LEAGUE

Same symbolism as the in-game, a seven pointed star over Olympus Mons, with the orange sky of Mars. I would love to know why seven points, one for each letter in Tharsis?

THE BARSOOMIAN MOVEMENT

My own design. The red is rustier than the Tharsis flag deliberately. The green represents the ability to self-determine on the terraforming question, and also as a sly nod to the classic skin-color of Martians.

THE AUTONOMIST ALLIANCE

This one came about by me not liking that the AA's logo in the book was red and black, which I can't imagine Extropia would ever agree to. Thus the classic anarchist bicolor is made grey symbolizing little, and there are two A's instead of one.

EXTROPIA

Black and gold for anarcho-capitalism, with the black star of anarchism and an upwards arrow for the principles of Extropia's reaching for a better transhumanity (thought ancapism).

LOCUS

The emblem of Locus on the black flag, at least as much as Locus may agree to have an emblem. It's the amoeba, and its purple because I wanted it to be (and because the amoeba is purple, at least sometimes). I imagine in universe the emblem is used more informally to represent the station and communal anarchists.

THE JOVIAN REPUBLIC

The book's logo flagified. I imagine the red represents the blood of huamnity, the white purity, the blue bioconservatism, and the grey unity (or something). Grey is not actually a common flag color.

EUROPA

I actually posted this on the vexillology reddit. Its Europa in front of Jupiter. The blue represents the sea, and the white crescent turned upwards suggests the white bull that spirited Europa away. This flag's proportions are the golden ratio, because I love Europa.

THE TITANIAN COMMONWEALTH

And last but not least, the Commonwealth. The flag is a Nordic Cross with Saturn and Titan. The Cross reflects the Scandinavian influence on the Commonwealth's population and politics, and the flag is taken from the colors of the Nordic countries as well.

Also the AA thing isn't a flag, its just a symbol. I realized after I put it on a flag that I don't think the Alliance would ever need a flag, since the Alliance isn't a polity it's just a loose mutual defense pact.

Later posts will have more simple logos. I've also made logos based on each flag but they're not particularly interesting.

These are fantastic. I do think that losing the offset look of the Planetary Consortium ones is a bit of a shame, but that's not a major problem. In particular, I absolutely love the redesigned LLA flag.

For the Jovian design: Maybe try switching the blue and the grey, and making the "grey" more of a bluish silver? That might make the design pop a little more, for better or for worse. Also consider making the flag's background white, as it is in a lot of specifically Christianity-related flags I've seen (i.e. this one). Also maybe consider including some gold?

For the Tharsis one: May be a little better in the visual contrast department if you made the orange a little more yellow. I absolutely love that design, though (but maybe I'm biased).

PC: I don't like the small stuff here (just because small stuff on flags = bad), but I think that you're sort of stuck with it. Otherwise it's probably one of the most appealing flags around.

LLA: Iconic and visually appealing, but why are the round parts ellipses instead of circles?

Morningstar: I like, especially the nonconformist square aspect.

Tharsis: I agree with GenehackedGynoid, the orange looks out of place and a little too oversaturated when paired with that red. I like the Arizona flag too.

Barsoomians: I'm not necessarily sold on green as a Barsoomian color. I would presume something more like a white would probably be their kicker. The flag as it stands clashes. Also, is it supposed to be evoking the ♂? If so, consider rounding that square.

AA: Consider going for more contrast. I think it's fine to have it be a military style patch, but I'm still not sure that the Extropians would be hardcore against the AA getting a red and black logo. I mean, it's not like we're going to get B&Y for them, but B&W should be inoffensive enough for most anarchists, right? (Disclaimer: I am not an expert on this, and my Google-fu was weak)

Extropia: Having a star is a little puzzling to me, given the symbol's use in Communist-affiliated anarchism. I don't see it elsewhere in anarchism (see disclaimer above), and Extropians would be very unlikely to associate themselves with Communism.

Locus: Looks good. I'm torn on whether it would be likely for them to have more obvious anarchist symbolism. There's probably no way to work an A in there.

JR: That gray is killing this flag. I don't know that you can go to white without changing a lot of the color scheme, but I would definitely consider GG's recomendation to swap the gray and blue, getting a more attractive color.

Europa: I like this design a lot, though I am a little concerned that it is simultaneously too complex and too simple simultaneously, somehow. Maybe adjust the colors for more contrast? I could see a darker space bit, and more contrast in the depiction of Europa itself. It's pretty to look at, but not as poppy as it could be. I also don't see any blue in the center, though that could be my eyes and color profile.

TC: I'd almost go in an entirely different direction for the Titanian Commonwealth. Instead of drawing on the Scandinavian cross, I would aim to use the colors of Scandinavia with a new design like yours. My final design would simply be the same Saturn/Titan design, but with the background changed to the Swedish blue. Jag är partisk

LLA: They aren't, I think its just an optical illusion. This is more obvious in the logo version (which I will share later).

Tharsis: For color things I'm not super into going through the whole fix-reupload-share process to actually show it, but I do agree with both of you. I may have sampled that orange from the book?

Barsoomians: I wanted something different from most Mars flags, thus the square. Also I like the idea that it represents the clanking masses. As for the green I somewhat agree but also I imagine this flag as having been thrown together by some random Barsoomian last minute and then it taking off, or something? So a degree of ugliness was almost designed into it. I also think that flags always look somewhat bad on computer screens because they're back-lit rather than front-lit.

As for Extropia and Locus, the black and yellow star is indeed a symbol of anarcho-capitalism, although not a common one, and with Locus the flag being primarily black is its anarchist symbolism. I see Locus as having myriad symbols for itself, though.

JR: Yeah. That was me following the book's colors. I'll see about branching out. Switching the colors didn't really do much.

For Europa I wanted to avoid a dark dark space because that would look black and Europa isn't anarchist, but also avoid navy blue because that's associated with the Jovians and the LLA. I do think that traditional vexillogical rules wouldn't apply so much in a future where everyone has an internet connection and an AI in their head, though.

As for the Titanians I just really like the Nordic cross. I'm willing to change colors though, though again the fix-reupload-share process is too much work.

I hope if its ok if I share some flags of my own making for various factions, though I tried to hew as close as possible to their canon icons. But let me just say all of your flags are really well designed, especially the Morningstar ones!

The LLA
My impression of them is either bureaucratic and a bit intra-combative or pulling a flag out at the last minute which would both lead to a 'seal on a bedsheet'. And I included a bunch of 'expansive' designs that I tried out and cant pick between.

Tharsis League
Basically their icon on a pink background, which also happens to be the color of a martian sunrise (currently, since I dont know how terraforming would change that) for all that symbolism about the dawn of new Martian Sol .

The Autonomous Alliance
'Officially' the flag other than the icon would be transparent, only using a white background and black border when thats not possible to represent the "empty flag" its attached too.

Jovian Republic
Standard tricolor based on the main stripes of Jupiter, though I have alternates versions that try to more accurately represent Jupiter's cloud layers.